Jessica Ort – Block 1

Name: Jessica Frank
Date of Birth: August 3rd, 1901
Date of Incident: 1942-1945
Interests: Reading, writing and learning about new government agencies.
Occupation: Newspaper Reporter

The Office of Price Administration and The War Production Board

President Roosevelt was faced with a problem during World War II. “With demand increasing and supplies dropping, prices seemed likely to shoot upwards” (Danzer at al. 567). The problem was wartime inflation, and to prevent it, The Office of Price Administration was formed (Office 1). The OPA “fought inflation by freezing prices on most goods. Congress also raised income tax rates and extended the tax to millions of people who had never paid it before” (Danzer et al. 567). By raising the taxes, ultimately the OPA succeeded “in keeping consumer prices relatively stable during the remaining war years” (Office 1). However, this was not the only problem that President Roosevelt faced. “Besides controlling inflation, the government needed to ensure that the armed forces and war industries received the resources they needed to win the war” (Danzer et al. 568). “War Production Board (WPB) was granted supreme authority to direct procurement of materials and industrial production programs” (War 1). The WPB “decided which companies would convert from peacetime to wartime production and allocated raw materials to key industries” (Danzer et al. 568). The WPB “also organized nationwide drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags, and cooking fat for recycling into war goods” (Danzer et al. 568). Schools would help by having the children bring in materials to class (War 1)

tin_cans.jpg

http://www.grangernet.com/images/pg6pic5.jpg

Works Cited
Danzer, Gerald, et al. The Americans. Evanston: McDougal Littell, 2005.

"Office of Price Administration." Infoplease. 21 Oct. 2008

<http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0836407.html>.

"War Production Board." Oklahoma Historical Society. 21 Oct. 2008

<http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/W/WA021.html>.